14-Year Cycles - Part 1 - Intro

We're familiar with Pharaoh's dream of seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of famine.  But there appears to be something deeper going on.  Jacob had to work two seven-year periods in order to receive his two wives.  Joseph Smith had seven years of relative prosperity from 1830 to 1837 and then seven years of horror until his death in 1844.  Captain Moroni had seven years of mostly peace followed by seven years of war with the Lamanites.  The Nephites spent the years 18-25 holed up safely against the Gadianton Robbers and then the years 25-32 were filled with wickedness and societal collapse and ultimately culminated the following year in total destruction and a visit from Christ.

So what's going on here?  What are the scriptures trying to tell us?

Is this 14-year cycle a personal one that each of us will go through in our lives, or are all of these instances pointing to one final 14-year cycle that the whole world will go through before Christ comes again?

Or maybe it's one of those ordinances that we'll receive from God in our personal lives but like other ordinances it's also something this earth will go through?  I tend to think this is the case - there must be a higher law in operation here.  Maybe this pattern matches something that occurs on a higher level.

The next few posts will focus on individual instances of this pattern.  Good times!